Stephen Viator

Biography

Stephen Viator Sr. had a commercial driver's license and had turned down a job at Titleist. He loved fishing. He was survived by his widow, Billie Jo, 35; two children, Stephanie, 12, and Stephen Jr., 2; and two stepchildren.

Incident Details

12/13/2003

When the scalloper Atlanta rolled and sank on December 13, 2003, 27 miles south of Chatham, surrounding vessels rushed to the rescue. The crew of the Ocean Reign recovered a life raft with five men from Atlanta an hour after the ship sank. Captain Jeff Kellogg, of the Ocean Reign, said the five men were nearly in shock. One of those men, Kenneth Toolis, fell from the life raft and drowned. Captain Francisco Pereira and crew member Stephen Viator went down with the ship. The Coast Guard recovered Mr. Pereira's body on December 14, but Mr. Viator's body was not found.